Westerosi legends have a habit of proving very real. From the Children of the Forest, to giants, to the White Walkers, tall tales told to naive children about ancient races and scary monsters often turn out to be anything but stories. One terrifying creature Old Nan used to frighten the Stark children with has never appeared though: ice spiders. As big as hounds, she said the blue-eyed ice demons (known in the books as the Others) rode the spiders as they hunted the living during the first Long Night. But Old Nan might have gotten this one wrong, but not for the reason you think. A new illustration for the 2020 A Song of Ice and Fire calendar shows them to be much bigger than we ever thought.
Is this just a fun interpretation of what they might have looked like, or is this a sign we will finally see them walking around Westeros on Game of Thrones?
George R.R. Martin shared artist John Howe’s gorgeous cover art for the 2020 A Song of Ice and Fire calendar on Twitter, and it features two gigantic ice spiders being ridden like walking thrones by the Others, who look like Grim Reapers.
Here’s an official sneak peak of John Howe’s cover art of our 2020 SoI&F calendar featuring the legendary ice spiders which haunt old Nan’s creepiest bedtime stories. pic.twitter.com/5Tm0FbPFpC
— George RR Martin (@GRRMspeaking) December 13, 2018
Yes. YESSSSSSSSS.
I’ve been waiting for giant ice spiders to show up on Game of Thrones for the last three seasons as the White Walkers became more and more of a threat, so I’m definitely treating this as a potential tease they will make an appearance in season eight. However, since this is a calendar for 2020, and the show’s final season probably doesn’t need much help being totally insane, it might be a sign they will appear on the prequel series.
Old Nan said that’s when they roamed Westeros, thousands of years ago during the first Long Night. Also, George R.R. Martin hasn’t been shy about how he wants HBO’s still unnamed prequel series to be called The Long Night. Showing one of the most terrifying mythical creatures in the history of the Seven Kingdom would show just how scary things were during that time.
Because even if giant ice spiders are a legend now, that doesn’t mean they weren’t real once. That’s happens a lot in Westeros.
Featured Image: Random House
